The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-01-18
TRAMP REPORTERS.
VAGABONDs OF THE PRESS WHO ARE
RUNNING AT LARGE.

forming Their Backs on Steady Work
They Wander Away to Enjoy the Less
Remunerative Sweets of Liberty-sev-
eraI Examples.
The vagabond streak is very strong in the
Z .egrapher and the compositor. Like all
a,lled workmen they are sure Of a living
anywhere they happen to land, if they only
care to work Both profit by the sub system
Nsuch gives them a chance where regular en-
e 2yment might be wanting. As rule it is
The best men whose facility renders them
Ia .kless and whose habits are loose and inn
peovident, who succumb to the temptation of
turning their backs on hard work, and
der off to work deal harder to less profit,
but with the sweets of liberty for compensa-
ton. suppose there is no reason that a re-
porter should not experience the same yearn-
ing. But his chances of earning a subsistence
by the way are much less that his appear
ance in the role of gypsy is more to be
wondered at
VAGABONDS OF THE PRESS.
At any rate, there is quite a considerable
number of these vagabonds of the press now
at large. met one of them, a we'll known man
on The Philadelphia Press a couple of years
ago, in Cleveland l was breakfasting be-
tween trains at the depot early in the morn
ing. He came in, dirty and shabby, but he
paid for his breakfast and ate lusty one,
you may be bound He was on his way from
Chicago to Buffalo, returning from a tramp
that had led him as far west as Louisville.
He had come in on a freight train, and some
drovers he had made friends with were going
to help east i'll their cabOOse. This man,
when last heard of him was editing paper
III western Pennsylvania, and was reported
to be settled and doing well.
There used to be drOll, dry geniu about
newspaper row, who worked for the Sun
day papers and wrote funny stories that were
really funny to read. He disappeared sud
denly and every one thought him dead A
long while afterward, being in Baltimore, I
came across paper published on the east
ern shore that bore his name "a proprietor.
| learned that he had started on a stroll
south, had walked into Dover on foot, met
an old friend who possessed some means, and
got him to set up paper Tor him. They
doing well at the time 1 writ Of but "a
few months later the editor did not report for
duty one morning. He sent a note to bis
friend saying that he was going west By
foot and rail he penetrated as far as Kansas
There ! lost track of him, acting as sub
editor on paper in Atchison He is prob
ably well on his way around the world by
this.
A CONFIRMED r WEIR.
There recently returned New No~E /
pressnan whom every old timer on til W
knows. He was regarded fifteen yea go as
one of the most able reporters in the Z. ty.
He has worked, and worked among the best
on all the great papers, and done scIne of the
brightest and cleverest repOrtoTfal work that
has got into print in the metropolitan dailies.
But he is a confirmed rover, and can never be
counted on from day to day. He makes pc
riodical disappearanceS from New York, and
after months is heard of as being connected
with some out-of-town paper. He always
gets good berths, for his ability commands re-
spect and has tangible value. Formerly he
did not go further away than Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Albany Hartford. Then he
began to drift to such distances as Boston and
Pittsburg. Then his operations extended to
Chicago, St Louis and into Minnesota and |
Dakota When l shook hands with him the |
other day at the postoffice he was fresh from
Denver.
once asked this man why he deliberately
sacrificed his opportunities as he did, and |
broke away from connections he could easily |
have made permanently profitable. II can't |
help it." he replied; 81 get so Internally tired |
of New York that have to get out"
Then, why don't yAu stay out when you
get good thingF
Because 1 get so tired of being away" said
he, "that 1 have to come back"
Here you have epitomized the creed of the
tramps of journalism.-AlfredT rumble in
The Journalist.